By Joel Langton
Del Rio’s Ray Hanselman has qualified for the Super Bowl of bass fishing tournaments, the Bassmaster Classic.
The top 40 anglers in the Bassmaster Elite Series qualify and Hanselman was sitting at Number 43.
Hanselman could sneak his way into the Classic by a couple different scenarios. His year was good enough to legitimately make the top 40 but had a couple key lost fish and one event unfortunately he had to weigh a dead fish which induced a 4-ounce penalty that cost him three places (points) in that event.
And he missed the top 40 cut by only two points.
So getting in by a technicality doesn’t diminish his confidence because he had made it in, he said.
He was glued to his phone Saturday afternoon, watching the weigh-in at Lake Oneida and pulling for Bill Perkins. When Perkins won, it put Hanselman in the Number 40 spot and set to fish in the Super Bowl of bass fishing for the second time in his four-year BassMaster Elite career.
“I had a good feeling, there were five spots open and they usually end up pulling three guys up for a variety of reasons,” Hanselman said.
If an elite angler double qualifies for the classic BASS will pull up the next in line to fill the desired number of the field.
Now, he’ll be fishing with 55 anglers for $300,000 in the 2022 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk Lake Hartwell, March 4-6, 2022.
One of the keys for the Elite circuit is a strong line of sponsors. Hanselman has Energy & Automation, Skeeter, Yamaha, Smith Industries, War Horse services, Viva energy, Strike king lures, Power Tackle Rods, Boerne Marine, Owner hooks, Minn Kota, Humminbird, Helicopter Pig Hunts, Tactacam and Bass Mafia in his stable supporting him.
As much as he appreciates the sponsors and works hard to ensure they are well-represented, “The key for me is I couldn’t do this without the amazing support I get from Misty (his wife) who is my motivation and the one that keeps thing together while I’m off at these tournaments and I just couldn’t do it without her and the support from my boys Mason and Miles.”
